In my last post a question was recently asked regarding what (if any) movie franchises should be considered "great" from start to finish. As I am a shameful lover of lists, I am taking it upon myself to provide the definitive answer to this question.
First off: I think it needs to be pointed out that very few franchises achieve greatness throughout the entirety of its volumes. For example, the first two Superman movies are greatness but the other sequels make the overall franchise a dud. The same goes for the Batman, X-Men, Die Hard, and The Matrix films... especially The Matrix. The first was genius, the rest were garbage. I think Spiderman was close to achieving greatness but the last film was just a disappointment.
I think the one caveat to this rule is if a franchise has a huge gap in time between productions. The newly imagined Batman franchise can stand alone and has a new opportunity to achieve greatness since the latest film rocked. Additionally, if you apply the same rule to the Star Wars franchise, the first three films qualify for the cinematic trilogy hall of fame. Finally, I think attention must be given to continuity. Nothing is more annoying than when plot continuity is ignored or casting changes are made willy-nilly! While it is no ones fault that Dumbledore had to be re-cast, it only hurts the Harry Potter franchise's chance at greatness.
My Top 5 in order from good to great...
5) The Bill and Ted Trilogy Anthology
4) A Fistfull of Dollars - A Few Dollars More - The Good The Bad, and The Ugly
3) Indiana Jones Trilogy
2) Star Wars Episodes 4-6
1) Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Please feel free to include your favorite two-parters, trilogies, septologies, and the like in comments.
14 comments:
Bill and Ted had a third movie?
I'm going to do somewhat the opposite since I've listed a few of those that I liked in your last post. Here's a list of those that started GREAT and then flopped...
5) "Save the Last Dance"---loved, loved, LOVED the first one, and then other than the star of Part II being soooo very easy on the eyes, I totally didn't like the cast change nor the story line.
4) "Bring It On"---The first one was hilariousness...the second wasn't as such.
3) "The Skulls"---Not even really sure what I want to say about it!
2) "Fast and the Furious"---Paul Walker had a chance to redeem himself in "Running Scared"
1) This spot is reserved for any of the "Nightmare on Elm Street/Halloween/Friday the 13th" movies that contributed to its predecessors' derailment (no time for a damned spell check or to care if derailment is a word).
So other than throughly enjoying the cinematography of ALL of the "Jurassic Parks," and other than all the goriness, liking "Bad Boys," that's as far as I go with the good list other than to throw a few out for discussion...
"Karate Kid?"
"Rocky?"
"American Pie?"
"Saw?"
Are we ready for Part II of Fantastic 4? How about the new Die Hard (Bruce Willis is the shit!)?
gyuss, no... just the two.
tera, all good first volumes with crappy sequels... that was a fun read. Also, I predict that the fourth Die Hard will be the second best.
I can't wait for your review on it because I am so there to see it!
I thought the Skulls 3 was the best of that series
Just wanted to chime in a cherring section for you #3 choice. Any movie that even slightly reminds me of the archaelogical action-adventure in Indiana Jones movies has me captured through nostalgia.
That should have been "cheering" section, by the way;>
Great post. I might be listed out right now. I loved the Indiana Jones trilogy. Why was Dumbledore re-cast?
tera, I've been a big fan of Bruce ever since Moonlighting. I'm expecting great things from this next Die Hard.
Q, who was naked in it?
Woo, welcome to The Wheel! Thanks for the kudos. I'm guessing your a fan of National Treasure. It reminded me of Jones and I liked it.
fringes, Richard Harris died. Thanks for bringing down the room!
the first saw was such a mind freak for me i will probably never watch any of the sequels. or the original ever again for that matter.
the first rocky was ok, but the rest suck. the same for the rambo crap.
i loved the first karate kid. the rest stunk. progressively worsening along the way.
i only ever saw the first american pie. not realy my thing. american beauty though with kevin spacey, was brilliant.
how long before bruce, demi, and ashton all make a movie together and live happily together in a great big house with all their kids?
Haven't they ever heard of a little thing called CGI? Oliver Reed died during the filming of Gladiator and never missed a scene.
they did the same thing with the girl from poltergist way back when but i think they decided against it because of the amount of work involved.
heather, I agree on all counts... only I've never seen the Saw movies and don't plan to.
fringes, they did consdier CGI to continue Harris' run as Dumbledore, but in the end they determined it too time consuming, too expensive, and too creepy. Conversly, Gladiator had a situation of a role un-finished, which required only a modicum of re-writes and very little tech work.
soooo, um cyber? how's tera been treating you?
;-) lol
Post a Comment